Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas day dawned clear and cold. But not too cold. This is what it looked like about 7 AM, which was way too early to be up, by the way.

The tree was beauteous if somewhat blurry.

Cody took up residence next to the tree in the big chair, at least he could sit up.

Blane, on the other hand, was a bit more tired. And the dogs didn't care at all.

After we opened presents, the boys went back to bed, the dogs went in and out, and I took a short nap before watching Wall-E. Which I thought was a fun movie. Then spent another few hours watching corny Christmas movies. All in all, a good day.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Dudes, seriously. Christmas Eve was totally the bomb. See how much fun we are having. Really, we are having fun. We would get up but we are so bloated by ham, potatoes, veggies, cake, brownies and cookies that we could only sit and continue to drink our wine, which was preceded by some beer and succeeded (post-ceded?) by some delicious Myers Rum. Does this family know how to do Christmas Eve or what?

Cody picked up some Fat Bastard Wine. Look how shocked the Wise Men are by this-

Blane was going for some ham, his favorite food, but so were the dogs. I am almost sure that Blane caved. Sometimes you don't want to give in, but to maintain your sanity you just have to lay down a little meat to throw them off.

Cody very much enjoyed his Fat Bastard.

As you can see, the evening wore on. Don't we all look so very happy. I'll bet we could have happily

agreed to painful dental work by the time these pictures were snapped.

But we had a good time and we were all together. And really, isn't that what matters.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas to all. I have cooked and baked and Dave has brined the Turkey. We hope to consume a weeks worth of calories between tonight and tomorrow. I am very excited for Christmas. The mood is good.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Well, I made it! I got to Rochester as the snow started to fly. I went to the mall, Shops on Main, the car dealership (another story) and Pine Needles. When I got home it looked like this-

That is visibiltiy of about 1/4 of a mile.

And the whole thing made Trixie a little nervous.

So yesterday's snow led to this in the driveway. The temp is 12 below and the wind chills are something like 27 below. But really, is that going to stop us from shoveling? No way.

So Dave and I went out and shoveled. I had to give Dave some remedial shoveling lessons as he was shoveling into the wind. Yes, we were getting blowback. He also was not wearing any long underwear and got cold. Duh. I, on the other hand, have on long underwear, flannels and a covering of polartech, with a turtleneck, sweatshirt, and Columbia coat rated to 10 below. So there. And a NW Airline regulation wool scarf to cover my face. Two pairs of gloves added to accessorise topped off with ladies calf length Sorels. Dang, I was pretty warm.

There were sun dogs today above the neighbors. Dave doesn't like this picture because the house is too dark below the sun but I say who cares-check out the sun dogs. I think that means more rain-or snow in our case.

Oh and by the way, Cody squeaked in on Thursday between Wednesday, a bad flight day, and Friday, a day marked by a zillion weather delays. Man is that kid lucky.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Tomorrow I have to go to my favorite quilt store (Oh and check out the classes next quarter-I have scrap therapy, embroidery club, software sampler, and of course-The Super Bowl Mystery Quilt all on my calendar so far-but I digress)

So, I have to go to Pine Needles and get some thread, then to the mall to get something for my friend Janice (I'll find a picture) and then elsewhere to pick up one last present for my husband. And you know what? It is supposed to snow and blizzard and do all sorts of things that could thwart these last minute carefully made plans.

So if I leave early enough I might outrun the thing. But if not, I will run smack dab into it on my way home. Well, actually it would overtake me as it and I would both be heading east.

I have to get Blane too, as he wants to spend the week at home with his cat, Good Kitten (pictures to follow, although Blane is pictured at his b-day in November). And how easy it would all be, smooth like warm butter, if only, if only it was not going to be a blizzard tomorrow.

I don't know why I always look like Bucky Beaver (remember Bucky?) when my pictures are taken. I have to remember to close my mouth or something.

Anyway, back to the snow. We started out trying to walk through this in our tennies.

But we didn't like that so we decided to hit the road and walked the Whispering Hills-St Charles loop. We saw this view towards the end

It was 35 degrees-a lovely spring day. When we got home I took a picture of this-

Yeah baby, my new sporty 09 Corolla. Sorry big 3. I still have the Chevy Blazer, and hope to buy another Chevy in the future, if there is a future for Chevy. But in the meantime-gaze upon my new car, complete with iPod plug in and new car smell. Wooeee!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Holy Cow I bought another car. What was I thinking? I was thinking that this new '09 Corolla looks sportier, drives smoother, and is a much prettier color than the '06. But I am a little sad that I hardly said good bye to the old car. Sigh.

Oh well. Pictures to follow

Everything is wrapped and ready to go in the mail for Christmas. And everything that I bought for the boys is wrapped too. Gift Certificate for Dave-but I won't say where.

Monday, December 8, 2008

It resembles a Christmas ornament out there in the white snow. Today I go back to the dealer and see what is going on with my sick car, and/or to see about a new car. Hmmmmm......

Speaking or ornaments, I have the nativity scene up. Dave is also excited about that, as you can see:

Well, the Packers lost and the Seahawks lost, both after having screwed up made valiant efforts to win. Oh well. Oregon State lost its bid for a bowl game to USC, who will meet Joe Pa at the Rose Bowl. University of Washington had a perfect season-no wins. Can't top that, except if you are Detroit but that is professional. Poor Detroit. I am rooting for them all the time now, just one win to keep their spirits up.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Today the car died. Just silently died waiting for the red light. We got to go and spend the whole afternoon at the dealership, where, for fun, I tried to buy a new car. Alas, the payments were too high. It turns out my car was only slightly dead and will be revived with a new computer part, to be ordered and installed at a later date-all under warrenty. Which is only right since the car is only 2 years old!

I am now driving a rental which will be photographed and properly blogged tomorrow.

After all afternoon at the dealership I am worn out and my brain is fried.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Yesterday, after shopping at the near empty mall, Dave started on the fake Christmas tree. I swore I would never have a fake tree (where is the pine smell, the dropping needles, the bare spot one has to hide?). The plan was to have this one downstairs, where we spend most of our time, and a real one upstairs. But now that we have this one up, a real one seems like an awful lot of work. So we'll see if next weekend we get a small real one, or just go with this one. It started out like this:

Dave totally got into the groove of decorating whilst I and the dogs observed.

See how excited Trixie is? She is doing her princess and the pea thing, resting on about 10 layers of blankets. The only thing better would have been if I had covered her up. But that is another story.

See how excited Dave is to be doing his thing here? He is really excited because last year, after Christmas, he went to Hobby Lobby and got the tree for 8 bucks, and a ton of ornaments and garlands each for under a dollar. He showed me every one and then told me how much he paid and how much he saved. It was a huge thrill for him.

However, after about 15 of those exciting and stirring price saving revalations, Beta and I both felt about like this:

Although I think Beta looks more interested than I did.

So here is the blurry tree this AM. More and better pictures to follow.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

So, Thanksgiving is just a memory now. Here we are after dinner. Don't we look happy? Actually, we are all stuffed and tired and ready for a nap at 7 PM!

Blane did go straight to bed. But then watched TV until 3 AM. Not me. I went to bed and fell fast asleep. The tryptophan effect.

We also had a beautiful flower arrangement. Which we still have. It is pretty tall so you have to look around it at the person across from you. Which is ok, because we were all too busy stuffing ourselves to speak.

So now we can just gear up for Christmas. I wish we could enjoy Thanksgiving a little longer. I am trying to convince Dave (and myself) to go shopping today. We'll see how far we get.

The good thing about the Christmas season is all the sappy Christmas movies on Hallmark and Family Channels. And, oh gosh, I can't forget Lifetime-which is showing 2 or 3 of them tonight! I love those movies-so bad they are good. Plot line-Boy/Girl has crisis at Christmas time-may or may not believe in Christmas, crisis brings boy/girl indirect contact with girl/boy who may or may not be enemy, crisis and Christmas magic cause boy/girl and girl/boy to fall in love and the holidays are saved, crisis is solved, and all live happily ever after. All in 2 hours. What could be better?

I'll be watching tonight while knitting this

Yes, I have started on square 2 of the GAAA. It takes much more time than the GAA because of the cabling and the fact that I am a slow knitter. I am trying to knit continental (is that the picking style) and can knit that but not purl, and the tension on my yarn never is right. Oh well.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Last year we had the whole family at our house, but this year it will be just Blane, Dave and me. And some football and beer! Seattle Seahawks are losing to playing Dallas today. Dave is still smarting from the Packer loss on Monday.

Here we are last year, happily enjoying our post dinner bloat! I think I read that on Thanksgiving the average caloric intake is something like 3000. I wonder how many Weight Watcher points that is?

Last night I watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. This is kind of an interesting article after seeing the movie. There are lots of reviews and information about the short life of Jean Dominique Bauby. I thought it was a good film, even if it took literary license. It makes one consider life, that is for sure.

I embroidered the heart and stars on his stomach with my Bernina 730 (ok, enough with the plugs for Bernina, it's just that I love my machines). It was so much fun and really easy to do. It turned out great. I wish I had a better picture. I really need to work on my photography skills.

So I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Have a great day, eat lots, enjoy the company (or not!). And have fun!